Customizing Classlink

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Written by Tracey Brown - Instructional Technology Academic Specialist

 I’ve been around in AACPS long enough to remember a time before we had Classlink. Honestly, that probably isn’t a big feat! Many of us remember the days of the splashpages that we built and set as the homescreens to help students and staff get to their everyday applications with just a click or two. Classlink made things even better, by not only giving you a button to get to the application, but by signing you into it automatically too. At this point, I don’t know what I would do without it!

That is why I am sometimes puzzled when I see Classlink load and instead of someone clicking the sign-in button, they quickly open a new tab and go to google.com so they can type in http://nearpod.com. When I ask why they don’t just use Classlink, they often roll their eyes and say something like, “Ugh, I hate that page! I can’t find anything!” If you are one of the people who navigates away from Classlink without giving it a second glance, then this post is for you!


First, I want to address why there is so much stuff on Classlink. For this, I’ll use our digital textbooks for an example. If middle school Social Studies has a digital textbook, that app has to be installed for all staff and students at middle schools. If it weren’t pushed to everyone, we run the risk of someone who teaches one section of social studies, or a long term sub filling in for a teacher on extended leave not having access to the app they need. This would create daily support tickets requesting this app be added and that app be removed as people transition in school roles. To ensure the app is there for everyone who needs it, a wide net is cast. That means there is a lot of stuff on Classlink that you may not need, because someone needs it. So what can you do to make Classlink work better for you?


Get Organized

There are many options for organizing your Classlink page, let’s start simple. By default, apps are alphabetized. But if that isn’t the way your brain works, then it can frustrate you that an app you use everyday is at the bottom when you would rather have it in a more prominent position. You can drag and drop apps into any position on your Classlink page to reorganize it in an order that works best for you. Similarly, if you prefer the alpha order, you may feel frustrated when new apps are added because they always go to the bottom. That means the first 30 apps are alphabetized, but the last 10 are not. You can right click on your Classlink page at any time and choose Sort Apps → by Name and they will all be alphabetized.


Folders and Stuff I don’t use

Another tip to organizing your Classlink page is to hide the apps you don’t need, like all those textbooks for content and grade levels you don’t teach. To do this, create a folder by right clicking and choosing Add Folder. I recommend naming this folder something like “Stuff I don’t use.” Then you can drag and drop any apps you don’t need into that folder and drag it to the bottom of your Classlink page, cleaning up the extras significantly and ensuring that YOUR Classlink page works best for YOU! 

Two tips to the folder suggestion: 

1. When dragging an app into a folder you want to hover over the folder for just a second until the app gets small and the folder gets big, then when you drop it, it goes into the folder rather than pushing it over and taking its previous spot. 

2. You cannot put a folder into a folder. This means if you don’t want the Instructional Tech Resources or Review and Evaluation information you won’t be able to remove them using this tip as both are folders that cannot be put into your new “Stuff I don’t use” folder. 

One final tip on folders… let’s say you get a little “folder happy” and you create a bunch of different folders to organize apps by their purpose and then you can’t remember if you put iReady into your “Important” folder, or your “Assessment tools” folder. No problem! Classlink has a search box in the upper right that allows you to type in what you are looking for. When you find it, it shows you where it lives. If you change your mind and don’t want it in that folder anymore, you can right click on the app and choose Remove from Folder to place it back on your Classlink page.


What about deleting apps?

The apps added to Classlink by the district admin cannot be deleted. The real reason is that if we enable that functionality for some users, we enable it for all users, including students. Anyone ever had a student say they couldn’t find the button for a certain application? Right now, that is usually because they have also gotten a little hyper organized and put it in a folder and forgot where and a search resolves the issue. If they were allowed to delete them, they might do it on purpose to derail instruction!


Pick your favorites

One final tip is to favorite apps that you DO use everyday! Favoriting apps places them in a toolbar across the bottom of the Classlink page. You can favorite PowerSchool for daily attendance and updating grades, you can favorite the LMS you use daily to post assignments, and yes, that dreaded digital textbook that all your colleagues wish they could delete. To favorite an app (you guessed it) right click and choose Add to Favorites. If your role changes and you don’t need that app anymore, right click on it again and choose Remove Favorite. It won’t delete the app entirely, it will just take it off of your Favorites toolbar.


Finally - Just for Fun!

In addition to making sure the apps on the page are in the optimum position, you can just dress up your Classlink page to suit your personality. You can change your background graphic or even remove it entirely if it is just too busy for your liking. To change your background, you want to select Edit Mode in the upper left, then choose Custom Wallpaper on the right. The Default tab will allow you to see all of the images that Classlink offers, but if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll find some simplified backgrounds, or you can also choose Color to change to a solid background color, rather than an image.


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